Different types of information can be digitally represented and stored on optically read discs. Compact Disc (CD) drives and Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) drives may be used to read the information from the discs. Examples of media that may be read using a CD or DVD drive are Compact Disc-Digital Audio (CD-DA), Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Compact Disc-Recordable (CD-R), Compact Disc-ReWritable (CD-R/RW and CD-RW), and Digital Versatile Disc-Read Only Memory (DVD-ROM). For more information on several forms of optical storage media refer to the Compact Disc Digital Audio Standard introduced by Philips and Sony, commonly known as "the Red Book," the Compact Disc Read-Only Memory Standard introduced by Philips and Sony, commonly known as "the Yellow Book," the CD-ROM/XA Standard introduced by Philips, Microsoft, and Sony, the Compact Disc Interactive (CD-I) Media Standard, commonly known as "the Green Book," ISO 9660, and the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) MultiRead Specifications for CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-R/RW, & DVD-ROM Devices, Revision 1.11, Oct. 23, 1997, all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
In the early 1990's CD-ROMs were operating at up to the quad-speed (4.times.) level. In 1998, it is not uncommon to find CD-ROM's operating at 32.times. and beyond. As speeds have increased, challenges have arisen in the area of error detection and correction, as well as in other areas dependant on control of the CD sectors being serially transferred from the disc to the buffer. When problems relating to data read operations, error checking and control operations, or buffer error conditions, occur it is desirable to quickly and accurately restart the data transfer at the location last accessed. A correct solution should result in the buffer being filled with sequential sectors. There should be no skipped or duplicated sectors.
Currently existing solutions typically do not reposition the data read device at the exact position of the sector being processed when the error condition occurred. Instead, a reseek location is chosen that is several sectors before the sector being processed when the error condition occurred. This is an inefficient use of time, which has become increasingly important as optical storage device speeds have increased. A solution is needed that efficiently repositions the data read device to the location of the sector that was being processed when the error condition occurred.